Ezekiel 37:11, commentary and pictures

The bones are the whole house of Israel confessing that their bones are dried and their hope is lost and they are cut off for their parts, having no evidence of connection with God. The verse also points to the literal resurrection, when God in His own time will call forth the dead by giving again the breath of life and bidding the dry bones live, with personal identity and character preserved by God though not the same particles of matter return, the same form coming forth with the same individuality of features so friend will recognize friend, but free from disease and every defect, made of much finer material as a new creation and new birth, a body that will please God. Spiritually the dry bones are God's backslidden people and the church in its present dry-bones condition, spiritually dead and lifeless and without hope. They are at ease, sleeping, off guard and unready while the end steals near noiselessly, reckless, lukewarm and following their own way, with icy hearts and only a legal religion. They profess to believe the truth but are without an experiential knowledge of its vitalizing, sanctifying power and of what Christ as the world's Redeemer is and will be to them, with form taking the place of power and simplicity lost in a round of ceremonies and outward forms that cannot replace that power, left in darkness.

The church in Battle Creek was in this valley-of-dry-bones condition, spiritually dead and in danger of many souls being lost unless something was done. The dried bones needing life means they need to be stirred with some power to give them life by opening the door to needed light and knowledge, even when those in responsible positions would close it, with work and prayer required to obtain a hearing for it. The dry bones cannot live by their own power; the Lord must breathe life into them, and God cannot use His people while they remain in that state, for that breath is the deep moving of the Spirit of God upon the heart with life-giving influence, and without it truth becomes a dead letter. Life comes by power from God through a life-giving message that presents in the Bible's light the subject of sin and atonement and shows Christ and His righteousness, so they see the better things provided for them.

They shall live when the Lord breathes upon them in answer to prayer for the Spirit to work, the Holy Spirit bearing upon their hearts so they no longer sleep as do others but watch and be sober, bringing a solemn season of conviction with weeping, a desire to be Christians, coming forward for prayer, and deep, feeling testimonies. That living requires giving the will like clay into the hands of the potter and cooperating with God to become a vessel molded unto honor, passive and susceptible to divine impressions, standing in the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness where no earthly or selfish motive is suffered to live, so they are renewed in the divine image. It requires seeking and following the Word of the Lord, humbling the soul, drawing near to God and turning to the Lord, with purposes changed to the purity and meekness and lowliness of Christ. The vision was given to show that no work of restoration is too hard for God to do: when Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy to the wind, life was restored to the slain in answer to his word and they stood up as an exceeding great army, so none who trust in God need ever say their hope is lost. When the Spirit gives life and energizes His people, the church can advance in steady obedience, become workers together with God in gathering and bringing home the sheep of His fold, and with self-denial and self-sacrifice proclaim the chain of warning messages to the world before Christ's second coming, giving the third angel's message where it has never yet been heard and entering new fields.